April 29, 2021

Hi Birders I have crunched the numbers and it was not as bad as i thought, most species were at or near our count average and there were a few that made star rating. Here are the main figures: Individules: 26,484 High Counts Anna’s Hummingbird 169 up from 143 last year Eurasian-collared Dove 92 up…

                “Swings and Roundabouts” That is what it was like today,swans,geese and eagles were down again this week and the unexpected also happened. 8 people left the dog park under sunny Wednesday skies and at the site of the soon to be built new retirement home for swan…

Cowichan Bay, South Side. Rain, cold (5 C) and poor visibility did not deter six hardy counters this morning. Donna Zipse; Ken Bendle; Barry Hetchsko, Willie Harvie, Steve Mitchell and Gail Mitchell The highlight was much Bald eagle activity. Gunshots coming from the end of the estuary were heard throughout the time. 1 Belted Kingfisher,…

Hi Naturalists It has been a while since I put fingers to keys and thought that as surveys are about to start that I would enlighten you on what this birding duffer has seen this late summer. The shorebirds have been the best for many years, but numbers are still low for what was once…

Cowichan Bay, southside. I forgot to send out a reminder last week and everyone else forgot to check the calendar at www.naturecowichan.net, so only Linda Hill and I were there to do the count without a telescope.  It was chilly and overcast, but the sea was perfectly still, reflecting the sky and the mountains, e were…

Hi This week saw a major drop in swan numbers with just 440 birds being found, where the others were hiding, who knows. We did manage to find two Tundra’s one of which was the neck banded P927 which incidentally thanks to Peggy Smith was seen in Forest Grove OR in January 2010 and in…